SERVICE ACHIEVES MILESTONE WITH
BIOLOGICAL OPINION ON WATER USE AND
RECOVERY OF COLORADO RIVER ENDANGERED FISH

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service achieved a milestone today with the
signing of a final biological opinion on water use in the Upper Colorado River Basin where
efforts are ongoing to recover four species of endangered fish. The opinion addresses
federal and other water projects as well as recovery actions by the Upper Colorado River
Endangered Fish Recovery Program. The opinion allows water development for human uses to
occur while recovering and protecting the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, humpback
chub and bonytail.

The opinion streamlines Endangered Species Act consultation for water
users by providing compliance for all current depletions (averaging about one million
acre-feet per year) in the Colorado River above the confluence of the Colorado and
Gunnison Rivers near Grand Junction, Colorado. It also provides ESA compliance for up to
120,000 acre-feet per year of new depletions. It further addresses fish recovery actions
that affect the Colorado River, including the 15-Mile Reach from Palisade, Colorado, to
the confluence with the Gunnison River. Specific checkpoints are included to ensure that
endangered fish populations are improving.

"This biological opinion specifies how we will recover the
endangered fish while allowing water development to occur in the Upper Colorado
River," said Ralph Morgenweck, regional director, Mountain-Prairie Region, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.

Recovery actions include increasing the amount of water released into
the river during certain times of the year, improving river habitat, constructing fish
passages to provide access to areas where fish lived historically, stocking and monitoring
the status of the endangered fish and reducing the impacts of nonnative fish.

One example is the Grand Valley Water Management Project. Included in
this project is improving efficiency of the Government Highline Canal system. These
improvements will help reduce the diversions of the canal system by approximately 28,400
acre-feet of water in August through October each year. When this savings is combined with
other water management activities in the opinion, up to 100,000 acre-feet of water could
be made available to assist in meeting flows needed by endangered fish during the late
summer and early fall.

Established in 1988, the Recovery Program is a cooperative effort
involving federal and state agencies, environmental groups and water and power-user
organizations in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. Its purpose is to recover endangered fish
while allowing development of water resources for human uses.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency
responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their
habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the
93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System comprised of more than 500 national
wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also
operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices
and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws,
administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores
nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as
wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees
the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes
on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.